Some drivers do not know what ADAS stands for: Advanced driver-assistance systems. ADAS is basically what a car owner knows as the various alerts and cool features that help us avoid accidents. These safety features include back up cameras, lane drifting alerts, blind spot monitoring, auto breaking and much more with every new make and model.
Believe it or not, the only safety system equipped in a car 5-10 years ago that required any type of recalibration following a collision were the airbag sensors. It used to be straightforward knowing what your car needed repaired because the airbag light would appear on the dash. Those annoying lights on our car’s dashboard indicate the issues require to be repaired, reset or recalibrated. Sometimes it could simply be a small problem like a loose wire somewhere in the system but other times it can be pretty major especially following an accident.
Unfortunately in most modern cars have such complex safety (ADAS) features that there are no dashboard lights that appear when they fail. These more complex safety systems require a repair technician to do a full scan of your vehicle to catch any issues. If your shop doesn’t scan for them, you will have no way of knowing if they are throwing off fault codes.
Most people assume that a body shop will automatically scan and do the appropriate vehicle diagnostics. But recently, CarMD reported that its third-party PRO SCAN tool had found issues on 80 percent of 5,642 vehicles checked by repairers.
CarMD wrote that “a majority” of those 80 percent had “hidden problems not likely identified by a visual vehicle inspection alone.”
“On average, these vehicles had six issues that needed to be checked, repaired, or replaced, resulting in improved peace of mind for vehicle owners and increased average repair order (ARO) for shops,” the company continued in a news release.
Basically what CarMD is getting at is 80 percent of the scanned vehicles had other system issues that would otherwise be invisible since they do not have any indicator lights. And that is 80 percent of the cars scanned in shops that actually use scanning tools which is quite high. That means, chances are, if you car hasn’t been scanned after an accident, your safety features may be compromised.
Of all the cars scanned, only 32 percent of them displayed the more common check engine light, which is not collision or ADAS related.
But on the 68 percent without a check engine light, “nearly three quarters (74%) of these vehicles … reported a problem with one or more system. On average, each vehicle had six different modules that required attention, resulting in additional work for the shop.”
“The most common Network System codes were related to the Body Control Module (BCM), Transmission Control Module (TCM), Instrument Panel Cluster (IPC), Powertrain Control Module (PCM), Engine Control Module (ECM) and radio.”
The biggest part that impacts customer safety: “Some less commonly diagnosed issues, but equally important due to their potential impact on passenger safety, were a faulty backup camera, adaptive cruise control, adaptive headlights, lane departure alert and seat belt retractor motor module.”
CarMD spokeswoman Kristin Brocoff confirmed these 74 percent didn’t throw any of the other dash lights either.
“In most of those cases it was an issue that doesn’t report a dashboard warning light at all,” she wrote in an email. “Other scenarios included situations where a CEL bulb was removed or disconnected from the combination meter. In others, it was an intermittent issue that hadn’t triggered a warning light.”
With all of that in mind, we think its apparent how crucial it is that you select a body shop that will check and follow all correct aspects of collision repair, including a pre and post-repair scan and calibration. With all this information out there, you would think all body shops would want to put their customers’ safety first.
Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Many collision repair centers and shops out there continue to perform repairs the same way they always have since the 1970s. They will often turn a blind eye to scanning and inspection procedures, or worse, they don’t even know that they need to perform them putting you at risk.
On the other hand, there are body shops who only strive to maintain low repair costs just to appease customers and insurance companies without considering the potential safety risks.
Here at Cherry Hill Collision we know how important it is that every single vehicle that has not been pre and post-repair scanned could be a liability to the customer and to our business. So we always scan everything, and that should help you feel 100 percent sure you have received the most correct and safe repair.
If you’d like to schedule an appointment or to get an online quote, click any of the buttons below! Or, feel free to give us a call at (856) 663-0500. We look forward to hearing from you!
